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Monday, April 6

Brittany Lincicome's Incredible Encore

IT WAS 2009 ALL OVER AGAIN. At the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club, the year's first major, Brittany Lincicome hit a "surreal" second shot on the 18th hole that set up a tying eagle. Then Lincicome outlasted competitor and good friend Stacy Lewis in a sudden-death playoff that took them down the 18th fairway three more times.

"[T]o make eagle on any hole is pretty incredible," Lincicome said, "and then to do it on Sunday at a major, at this major where I did it in 2009, it's really surreal.

"I feel like if you would have bet me all the money in the world to see how many times you could do it, if I went back to the fairway now I probably couldn't hit that shot again. So like I said earlier, today was my day. Somebody was looking out for me today."

For Lewis, ranked second in the world, it was heartbreak city. She barely missed a winning birdie putt on the final hole. More narrow misses followed in the playoff.

"I guess the more times you do it, the easier it gets," Lewis said.

"That's all you can do. You can't sit and dwell on it. You just have to go out the next week and try to win. I'm doing a lot of really good things, so I just have to keep going forward."

Lincicome hadn't won on tour in four years. The dramatic victory was her second major and sixth LPGA title.

"We've been close so many times, and it's just one of those where don't let it get to you," Lincicome said. "We'll just keep feeding from it and something good is going to happen. Lo and behold here, 2009, I won on Easter Sunday, and today is Easter Sunday, so it's pretty crazy to think about."

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